Oct 18, 2017 | By Tess
Matt Denton, a maker known on Youtube for his Mantis Hacks videos, has wowed us once again with his latest project: a giant 3D printed LEGO forklift.
The make, which follows in the same vein as his previous giant 3D printed LEGO Go-Kart, is a scaled up replica of LEGO’s technic Forklift [Kit 850] from 1977.
With his eight-year-old nephew Ruben at his side, Denton shows us how he assembled the giant LEGO forklift from large-scale LEGO bricks he adapted from projunk files and 3D printed. To give an idea as to the scale-up, Ruben builds the original technic Forklift kits by his side for comparison.
For the printing, Denton relied on his Lulzbot Taz 6 and Taz 5 3D printers to turn out over two hundred (216, to be exact!) 3D printed parts for the LEGO forklift. According to the maker, this job required over 500 hours of 3D printing—no small feat.
Similar to the 3D printed LEGO Go-Kart, Denton used a flexible filament for the tire components, though this time around he opted to use PolyFlex filament instead of NinjaFlex. In his previous project he used ABS for the rest of the parts.
The new giant LEGO build is presumably set at the same scale as the previous 3D printed LEGO Go-Kart, which was five times the original size. Denton said he determined the scale by seeing how much he could increase the size of the largest part within the constraints of his 3D printer’s build volume.
The result is a pretty large LEGO Forklift that, while not quite big enough for Ruben to ride, could potentially fit a smaller child.
Denton’s Thingiverse page already features the files and build instructions for his last giant LEGO build (the Go-Kart), and the maker says that the files for the ForkLift kit will soon be uploaded.
Additional build information about the design and 3D printing of the LEGO Forklift’s parts will be revealed in an upcoming episode of Mantis Hacks. We’ll provide updates about the fun 3D printing project when the video is released.
Until then, sit back and watch Denton assemble the large-scale LEGO Forklift kit with his nephew. Be sure to watch it all if you want to catch the maker slip off his chair!
For more cool 3D printed LEGO-inspired projects, check out James Bruton’s 3D printed electric skateboard or his VR LEGO gun.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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Comparing the giant Legos versus the regular ones... Amazing!!
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